Technology

The Peterman Pod

Sharing the transparent career stories of technical people. Hosted by an ex-Staff engineer at Instagram

Latest Episodes:

Anthropic Eng Leader And Ex-Senior Director at Meta On Microsoft vs Facebook, Career Learnings Jan 04, 2026

Show notes

Fiona Fung currently supports the Claude Code team at Anthropic and was previously a Senior Director at Meta. She grew quickly through the ranks at Microsoft and Meta before joining Anthropic. I interviewed her about what she learned along the way.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/anthropic-eng-leader-and-ex-senior

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/b5-d8u-c99s

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00 - Intro

00:38 - Impact vs team health

03:04 - Managing managers for the first time

05:31 - Advice on mentoring others

06:55 - What you should use 1 on 1s for

07:56 - Leaving Microsoft for Facebook

10:59 - Microsoft vs Facebook culture

12:01 - Why dogfooding is important

21:25 - Joining Anthropic

27:23 - Feedback that changed her career

28:43 - Advice for younger self

29:14 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionafung/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Best Software Engineering Career Advice of 2025 Dec 29, 2025

Show notes

Hi all, it's been such a fun project for me this year launching this podcast and trying my best to make the content as helpful as possibleAppreciate everyone who has taken the time to watch my videos and give feedback on how to make it betterIt wouldn't be the same without your support! Next year I plan to work hard to keep improving the content, see you in 2026

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00 - Intro

00:50 - Meta Distinguished Eng (Philip Su)

05:23 - Amazon Principal Eng (Steve Huynh)

06:23 - Google Staff Eng by 28 (Ricky Lee)

07:30 - Meta Staff Eng by 25 (Evan King)

08:51 - Shopify Distinguished Eng (Ilya Grigorik)

10:49 - Amazon VP (Ethan Evans)

12:24 - Meta Senior Staff Eng (Dwayne Reeves)

13:14 - CloudKitchens CTO, Ex Uber Senior Staff (Brian Attwell)

13:55 - Instagram Principal Eng (Jake Bolam)

14:42 - Uber Distinguished Eng (Joakim Recht)

15:03 - Creator of Claude Code, Ex Meta Principal (Boris Cherny)

15:45 - Outro

Frontline Manager at Meta to Senior Director at Snapchat in 3 Years (Career Story) Dec 22, 2025

Show notes

Rong Yan went from a frontline manager at Meta to a Senior Director at Snapchat in 3 years. I interviewed him to ask what led to that rocketship career trajectory in management. We went over how he job hopped into his first Director role and much more.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/frontline-manager-at-meta-to-senior

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHlko_Mg-Jk

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00 - Intro

00:46 - Joining Facebook

03:06 - Moving up into a Director role

05:09 - Director skill gaps

15:31 - Domain knowledge & management

18:45 - LA vs SF cultures

20:48 - Senior Director growth at Snapchat

22:43 - Evan Spiegel stories

24:59 - Recruitment at higher levels

32:05 - Career planning in hindsight

34:08 - Biggest career regret

35:33 - How much of growth is luck?

38:19 - Advice for younger self

41:53 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗻𝗴:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rong-yan-2004692/

• Personal Website: https://cs.cmu.edu/~yanrong

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Boris Cherny (Creator of Claude Code) On How His Career Grew Dec 15, 2025

Show notes

Boris Cherny is the Creator of Claude Code but few people know his full career story. I interviewed him about everything he learned growing at Meta and for insights from his time building Claude Code at Anthropic.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/boris-cherny-creator-of-claude-code

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/AmdLVWMdjOk

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:59 - Starting at FB

00:09:43 - Early side projects and book rec

00:17:05 - Being under leveled

00:18:55 - Staff (IC6) promo story

00:25:19 - Proximity to leadership learnings

00:29:36 - Scoping out work for 100s of engs

00:35:31 - Senior Staff (IC7) promo story

00:44:39 - How to find side projects

00:50:45 - Principal (IC8) promo story

00:54:20 - Building credibility in a new org

01:04:23 - Joining Anthropic

01:10:05 - Why Claude Code succeeded

01:15:56 - Claude Code use outside of code

01:17:22 - What he thinks of competition

01:22:57 - Advice for his younger self

01:23:57 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘀:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcherny/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/bcherny

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@boris_cherny

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Instagram Senior Staff Eng (IC7) On 3 Promos Through Redefining Expectations (Career Story) Dec 08, 2025

Show notes

Marius Schulz grew to a Senior Staff Engineer (IC7) at Instagram by redefining expectations three times (once for each promotion). We talked through each promotion and how he did it. There were also interesting learnings from when his promotion got blocked once even though he greatly exceeded expectations.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/instagram-senior-staff-eng-ic7-on

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/OXJHfb_lZII

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00 - Intro

00:55 - Choosing his specialty

02:29 - Greatly exceeding expectations with no promo

08:04 - Senior promo

15:30 - Staff promo

24:43 - Leverage and IC4/5/6 way of solving problems

29:51 - Senior staff promo

44:29 - Career planning past IC7

47:32 - Did IC7+ expectations scare him

49:49 - Advice for his younger self

52:29 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘂𝘀:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariusschulz/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/mariusschulz/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@marius.schulz

• Personal Website: https://mariusschulz.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Robinhood SWE Turned $1B+ Founder on Non-Linear Careers, Being Jaded About Promos, Startup Learnings Nov 30, 2025

Show notes

Jayendra Jog left Robinhood and raised $35m to start his own crypto startup (Sei Labs). Before he left, he got jaded about software engineering career ladders yet was coasting through promotions at Robinhood. I asked him about how he did that along with a bunch of questions about when to leave your job, how to raise money, and what to expect as a founder.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/quitting-robinhood-and-raising-35m?open=false

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/f4eeoetb8t4

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:54 - Big tech internships

00:04:51 - Joining Robinhood

00:07:58 - Big tech vs startups discussion

00:10:16 - Getting jaded about Robinhood career growth

00:16:04 - Coasting and getting promoted

00:18:54 - Gamestop stories from the inside

00:22:34 - Leaving Robinhood

00:30:25 - Learnings from raising $35m

00:34:07 - What value does crypto provide?

00:37:47 - Learnings and when to leave

00:40:41 - Advice for his younger self

00:41:58 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝘆:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayendrajog

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/jayendra_jog

• His Company: https://x.com/Sei_Labs

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

CloudKitchens CTO on Intelligence, Regrets, Steve Jobs and Travis Kalanick Stories Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

Brian Attwell grew to Senior Staff at Uber by age 25. After that he left Uber to join CloudKitchens (Travis Kalanick’s current startup) and quickly became the CTO after his team doubled in size every 6 months. I asked him about how he did it. He also had a bunch of interesting takes about big tech and stories about Travis Kalanick and Steve Jobs.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/cloudkitchens-cto-on-intelligence

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/egNtHu4q-vI

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:01:26 - Growth to Senior Staff at Uber

00:10:05 - Was it luck?

00:11:45 - Interviewing for IQ

00:18:02 - Intelligence and prioritization

00:22:19 - How his team doubled every 6 months

00:28:30 - Manager promos tied to scope

00:39:13 - Amazon and Google brutal honesty

00:43:39 - CloudKitchens behind the scenes

00:50:24 - Biggest career regret

00:54:17 - Travis Kalanick experiences

00:56:01 - Most impactful advice received

00:56:56 - Most impactful book for career

00:57:53 - Advice for his younger self

00:58:48 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-attwell/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/attwellbrian

• CloudKitchens: https://cloudkitchens.com/careers/

• CloudKitchens tech blog: https://techblog.cloudkitchens.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Uber Distinguished Eng On Unfair Promos, Influence, Engineering Regrets (Career Story) Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

Joakim Recht grew to a Distinguished Engineer at Uber and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the project that got him promoted, what makes a great software engineer, and learnings from promo committees.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/uber-distinguished-eng-on-unfair

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/feNh_ubBAMI

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:56 - Distinguished promo project

00:19:07 - How to grow your influence

00:22:38 - Unfair promo story

00:33:09 - On delegation

00:39:05 - Why engs don’t trust management

00:47:58 - Politics as he grew

00:57:00 - How to pick mentees

01:03:22 - Why he left Uber

01:15:16 - Biggest Uber eng mistake

01:20:15 - Uber scandals

01:24:35 - Advice for younger self

01:26:14 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗼𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗺:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recht/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Shopify Distinguished Eng (L10) on Principal+ Engineering, Career Story, Regrets Oct 24, 2025

Show notes

Ilya Grigorik grew to a Distinguished Engineer (VP-level role) at Shopify and I asked him what it took to get there. We covered his full career including the behind the scenes of his startup getting acquired by Google, his growth to Director at Google, and what it means to operate like a Distinguished engineer.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/distinguished-engineer-at-shopify

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:45 - Thoughts on Waterloo

00:04:36 - Starting his own company

00:08:40 - Google acquisition story

00:14:04 - Joining Google

00:20:28 - Switching back to IC

00:26:42 - Principal+ Engineering at Shopify

00:40:09 - Career regrets

00:44:53 - Top career-impacting book

00:46:59 - Advice for younger self

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗹𝘆𝗮:

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@igrigorik

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igrigorik/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/igrigorik

• Personal Website: https://ilya.grigorik.com/

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

Mozilla Firefox CTO on Browser War Stories and the Path to Distinguished Engineer Oct 10, 2025

Show notes

Bobby Holley went from an intern to the CTO of Mozilla Firefox. I asked him about everything he learned in that process. We cover his full career including some interesting stories on living through the browser wars and advice on career growth.

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/mozilla-firefox-cto-on-browser-war

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0MX9PyeCzDhdlyRv6slwIX

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835

𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• NYT article link: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/q2EjgGX6d5Ouwec479WSqM/For-Mozilla-Google-group-hugs-get-tricky.html

• Mozilla VP twitter thread: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1722183/former-mozilla-exec-alleges-google-torpedoed-firefox-with-oops-excuses.html

• Internal memo on writing: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1518xKjijjEWHQb6wZjAWJrUN8liZGGI9v5pRFr9eFHo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.1gfr5hva69qx

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:57 - Starting at Mozilla

00:04:57 - Browser wars history

00:10:55 - Google relationship changing

00:16:11 - Why work for free

00:19:02 - Projects that drove his career

00:33:12 - No performance reviews

00:34:42 - Rust adoption

00:43:33 - Career progression

00:47:54 - Should you focus on promos

00:57:14 - Distinguished promo rejection

01:00:56 - Examples of distinguished engs

01:10:54 - Advice for aspiring distinguished engs

01:14:40 - AI browser wars

01:26:32 - Biggest technical regret

01:29:11 - Book that impacted his career most

01:32:09 - Advice for his younger self

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyholley

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/bhology

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/

• X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpeterman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/

• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpeterman

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpeterman

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

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